This invention relates generally to the area of carbohydrate chemistry and more specifically to unique carbohydrates specific to cancer cells.
Cancer is currently the second leading cause of death in the United States. As a result, substantial efforts have been directed towards developing methods to detect and combat malignancies. However, because cancer affects many different types of cells, separate diagnostic and therapeutic methods must be established for individual cancers. Unique cell surface markers, or biochemical moieties, present on the membranes of particular malignant cells are of import as indicators of a particular type of cancer. The determination of specific cell surface markers potentially permits the targeting of therapeutics specific to malignant cells. Tumor specific cell surface markers have previously been identified for certain cancers of the colon and reproductive tract.
CML is a malignancy of certain cells of the blood system characterized by excessive levels of granulocytes in the peripheral blood. Currently there are some 6,000 new cases in the United States per year. Radiation exposure has been implicated as one causative factor for CML, making the disease of particular concern in connection with contamination from nuclear accidents. While the chronic phase of CML may persist for some years, eventually the disease transforms into an acute stage characterized by aggressive leukemia. Once a patient enters the acute phase, the prognosis is poor, with less than 20 percent surviving one year. Because chemotherapy undertaken during the chronic phase appears to be more effective than that begun after the condition has become acute, early detection is important. The effectiveness of such therapy is hindered, however, because the chemical agents used destroy normal myeloid cells as well as malignant ones.
Thus there is a great and long-felt need for a chemical marker which is specific to cells exhibiting CML but is absent on their normal counterparts. In addition to aiding in the understanding of CML, such a marker would be potentially useful in, for example, both the early diagnosis as well as the specific treatment of the malignancy. The present invention satisfies these needs and provides other related advantages as well.